Disclaimer: I do not own the DC characters or any others involving Arthur and his courts.

In case anyone didn't pick this up, I love the knight's story or hero's story, however you want to call it. I see knights and King Aurthur as the greatest men of good men. Men who fought to build a good kingdom in a world filled with bad things. And don't let anyone tell you different.

For a fellow christian, this chapter is dedicated to Kirsten Erin.

Chapter Three

End of an Era

The round table chamber was filled with the unholy beasts of Le Fay. Axes and swords cut away at the table, reducing its glorified from into splinters. The few knights and soldiers remaining were slaughtered one by one. Still the resolve and strength of the good king Aurthur endured. In his possession, the great sword Excalibur shined brightly and with its thundering power struck down those who opposed it. Even the worst of creatures could not match him nor break the unbreakable.

The demons swarmed around him. Fending off as many as could be taken down with a single attack, Aurthur gave them all a spectacle of Excalibur's power. An opposed demon hammered down a short ax towards the king. The sword bloomed with energy when it made contact and sent a feedback the attacker who was sent flying back and crashed with two others who stood beside it. The energy continued to flow through the sword as Aurthur swiped through the lot of them.

"No matter how many times I see it, I am always amazed at what Excalibur can do my king," a knight in silver armor said before he cut away at a demon's head.

Aurthur stood firm as the gap in the lines of the attackers formed by him was filled. His brown hair displaying beads of sweat from the long battling. His youthful breaded face not baring a single wound or scar from them. If need be, his soul was prepared to do this forever.

He was fast and amazingly agile for what the armor weighted. Excalibur weight no more than his own hand did. No demon in the room was safe from Aurthur's righteous wrath.

"Amazing as it may be good knight, it is only through the strength of our unity that we stand a chance." Aurthur took a whirled round slice across them, removing yet another line of enemies.

The knight could the king's reasoning and agreed with it. If not for them, Aurthur would have to deal with the enemy from every corner. The battle would be against him even with such a weapon as Excalibur at his call. Even still the king was too modest when it came to the sword for without it, the numbers of the enemy would have overwhelmed them.

The admiration in the sword cost the knight in silver armor. His one second to gaze upon the displayed power of Excalibur was enough for a sharp edged blade to rise up and end his life. He fell quickly, as did three others. The sudden lost of more knights caught the king's attention who looked around at his dwindled lines and saw but only eight of his men remaining.

"Curse the likes of Morgan Le Fay!" the king shouted. He cut down another three before beginning a prayer in which the sword in his hand could only hear. With his words, Excalibur began to glow with a heavenly light. "Knights, defend me."

They did just that. The king withdrew from the front and the loss was filled as the Aurthur moved into the center of them. He pointed the sword to the ceiling while he continued his prayer. He held the handle with both hands as it warmed to the touch. The room filled with the sound of a rumbling thunderstorm to the coming power Aurthur had summoned. The world outside darkened to his request. The forceful weight of the power Excalibur was bringing strained the king's legs that fought to remain standing.

With a humming followed the sound of electrical power which spewed out of the blade.

"Now!" he declared.

The sword gave a metal ringing before the sound of power crackled and unleashed itself into the room. All sounds of the world was drowned out in that instant of silence. Spins felt ever nerve of the body sending warning signals to the brain. The force of the power was felt in Aurthur's legs, enough to crush the bones in them if not for the aid of the sword. To his eyes and the eyes of everything around, the sword unleashed its holy fury. A beam of light ran towards the ceiling pushing down on Aurthur and dazzled the lot of them. Its thundering roar spoke fear into even demon, knight, and the bearer of the sword.

A moment was all it took as the beam of white light fired in every direction with streams of shocking power, hitting every last enemy in the room. The attack was instantly fatal and incinerated the targets into smoke. When the room was clear of the demon horde, the beam searched for others that threatened it summoner before retreating back into the sword Excalibur.

The king's eyes were closed, his body had shifted as if to expect some force of nature to crash into him. He stood still, couldn't even breath. Couldn't believe such power.

"By all that is holy," a knight said speechless.

Others were too shocked to say or do anything but give a handed gesture of the cresafix. Aurthur stared at the sword and than at the skies outside that gave a final rumble as the great power of Excalibur no longer called upon it. None of them could do much of anything until a clapping caught their attention.

"Well done, Aurthur," she continued to clap. "A most enlightening display of Excalibur's power."

"The demon witch," Aurthur said without emotion.

The knights came to arms once more for the fight.

Morgan walked casually into the round table room and was followed by a replenished number of her forces. They took position in the room and remained still until their mistress's call for action. To see the numbers of the enemy replaced so easily and suddenly dampened their tested spirits.

"Excalibur holds a power even I underestimated," she said coolly.

"A power you'll never have the pleasure of using, witch." Aurthur took his position at the front of his knights and squared off with Morgan Le Fay.

He would be defiant to the end, that much Morgan was sure of. It was so with every encounter with him. Of course Morgan still had one talent that made other men succumb to her will. She smirked and traced her figure downward with her hands, displaying her refined curves. Her body displays could send fire in a man's blood.

"Come now Aurthur. Every man has his price. What will your's be? To rule over the world at my side and bed for all entirety? You know I have the power to arrange it."

With the statement, Aurthur lowered the sword and laughed. His men followed.

"Do you think all men are bought so easily, Morgan? Your charming spells have no power over me. You obviously don't know what these halls of Camelot were made for. The good men here don't succumb to such likes of you harpies willingly."

"I don't know about that, good king. The same trickery got me through your kingdom walls."

His face turned bitter with the tightened grip around the sword. "And in these halls is where you will die. Your powers of persuasion have no effect on any of us so long as I have Excalibur."

It hurt to think that everything that had transpired with the last few hours of tragedy was breed through the deceit of one or several of his men. Aurthur didn't want to think about it, none of it would help now. The spells Morgan could conjure forward could cause him -if given a change to cast it- to break against the evil.

A sorceress at her best.

Morgan frowned as her proven method of persuasion was thrown back at her with mockery. She shouted with frustration and launched her magic at them. The sword glowed and with its heavenly tone forced back the demon witch's magic from him. It push Aurthur back as the cries of his knights told the king that his men would not survive it. The sword in his hands shielded him and protected as good knights of Camelot burned and vanish without a track before his very eyes.

"No!" His shout rang throughout the room.

She pressed the attack against him, eyes glowing with mystic powers. The sword resisted but the force of magic caused Aurthur to fall back in footing. He grunted before he began yet another prayer. Against the force of her magic, Aurthur pointed the sword towards the witch.

He called out to heaven above and with it, the sword glowed with an anger. It pulsed with power and fired a beam of light that cut through the magic of Morgan Le Fay and struck her.

The witch cried out and her magic ceased. She fell to her knees in agony with her hands pressed against her injured face. Her wails were answered by her demons who turned and attacked Aurthur will no success.

Morgan's breathing deepened, focused with anger. Her beautiful face, how it burned. Ruined.

"Hahhh!" Aurthur shouted with a horizontal strike at a demon. The demons were of no concern but were simply too much for Aurthur to address the posed danger. Morgan grew quiet and still yet to move since falling to her knees.

"My face..." Morgan gave but a whisper as one hand fell firmly to the ground. Her magic traveled smoothly against the floor, under the many feet and corpses unseen by the king.

"My beauty..." she cried with a whisper. "You ruined me."

The talisman necklace glowed.

The demons were jumping at him, he turned to cut them down and turned again to the many foes who refused to let up. The sword glowed with white light and burned those opposing near it. Aurthur was relentless but blinded by the magic that formed behind him into a mystic blade. It stabbed through him and his heart. Aurthur gasped and eyes widened to the assault. No flesh was harmed, but the very life in him was cocking.

"Its finished, Aurthur," Morgan stood up, still shielding her face with hand. The ugliness of her face was clear enough to see. She yielded her minions as Aurthur stabbed the sword in the ground to support him. "Your dying one way or another and all of Camelot belongs to my son now. Along with the philosopher stone and with that the source of the sword's powers. Why not make it easy for yourself and just handed it over?"

Aurthur gasped as he leaned on the sword to support his body upright. He could do little as life drained from him. "Witch, you know nothing. This sword is powered by something far more than some stone of legend. Should I die on this day, neither of them will be yours."

"I bed to differ, Aurthur."

"Forged in Heaven's light..." he began with a heavy breath. "Made with the strength of virtue..." Aurthur raised his wearing body and sliced through the air with the sword. With it, a fisher of light opened up for all to see. "I call upon its return...until someone worthy of its power comes forward, Excalibur shall remain safe from the hands of the unworthy."

"No!" Morgan cried as her magic sprang forward. "Stop him!"

The demons charged. Aurthur, with his last remittance of strength chucked the weapon into the fisher sealing and secured the fate of the greatest sword in existence.

Morgan couldn't believe it. She had come so close to it that she could taste her victory. In her rage she attacked Aurthur with her magic. Aurthur was hit and the life that was in him ceased. His body fell to the floor with the demon hordes preparing to feed upon it. A small constellation she figured. If anything that would come from her wounds was that Aurthur, one of Morgan's pains in her side was dead. Camelot was hers now and was to be given to her son at last.

The moment was crushed with the scene of his arrival.

He walked silently into the room of cheering demons. His presence became known to Morgan as her demon hordes became silent and ripped with fear of the light Merlin gave off. They dared not to near the body of the great king.

"Have you no decency as to give a great king a worthy death, Morgan?"

She cringed at his voice.

"Merlin," Morgan hissed.

"And now you stand in the halls of the great kingdom of men, dishonoring everything it stands for."

"Stood for, old man." Morgan turned around. "Camelot is mine now."

Her hand came down from her face. Skin was rotten, charred with no lips to shield her teeth from being exposed from all angles. No skin covered her eyes and the easily heard breathing from a formless nose. Nothing remained of her once proud beauty.

His unfeeling eyes sent nervous chills down Morgan's spin.

"Your a relict, Merlin," she said mustering her courage. "An old thing trying to accomplish the impossible with men." She fired off her magic at him.

Merlin swatted the attack away effortlessly as it approached. "You've learned nothing, Morgan."

With one quick gesture of hand movement, Merlin unleashed his power and it felt like fire to Morgan Le Fay's body. She howled as it ate at her flesh. Her magic was useless to aid her.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she tried to fight back his attack, but collapsed to the floor. She tried and tried until the talisman around her shattered into pieces.

"Nay, harlot. Demon magic will not help you." Merlin continued to attack.

Her body burned and the youth of the body was being stripped away.

"Your true form, evil one. Old, hag, broken." Merlin continued until...

A sharp cold found its way into Merlin's back. His eyes widened and his attack on Morgan ceased. His breathing turned quickly into a struggle. Morgan turned to her attacker confused as to why she was suddenly freed from her torment. To the demon woman's surprise, her salvation from Merlin came from Mordred who smiled as he held the dagger in the old man's backside.

He turned and glared at the boy with the smile. Another wretched thing of evil made in human form. To what ends did Morgan want to go?

Her body smoked and the air around her roared with the stench of burnt flesh. Her maimed face gave a twisted smile.

"That's a good boy, Mordred."

Mordred ran to her mother's side.

"Mother?" he asked to the unfamiliar face now present on her body.

Morgan said nothing to him. Only stared as Merlin gradually fell to his knees.

"Nothing to say, Merlin? After all you planned against me, you finally lost." Morgan said as she felt the damage done to her face with her fingers. "You deserve nothing less."

His body felt cold. Such a fate to such a great kingdom. To be built on the strength of good men to be ruled by a demon. That, the man with power would not allow.

Merlin's body began to glow white, losing all its features.

"What is he doing, mother?" Mordred asked childishly.

Morgan's eyes shot open wide. "Mordred!" She summoned her magic to envelop her son and herself.

Merlin no longer had form as the light grew and shook the foundations of the kingdom. Morgan darted out the windows with her son in tow. Her demon minions whined in pain as they were consumed as was the round table room and eventually the castle was well. The light continued until bursting with destruction. The shock wave of such force crashed through the surrounding structures and all of Camelot was consumed by it. When it was over Morgan Le Fey found herself standing on the very spot she began this battle at with her son. The kingdom of her conquest that stood proudly -even under siege- had vanished.

Coming out of this war, Morgan lost more than she every imagined as she felt across her damaged face. She gave an attempt to heal it, but knew the pointlessness of it. Merlin had destroyed her beauty. She wanted to cry for the loss but that ability was no longer in her power to do.

"Where is it, mother? Where is my kingdom?"

Morgan cupped her hands near her face. They glowed with her magic and with came forth a mask of golden beauty. Her heart hardened even further with the defeat.

"Not here, Mordred." She placed her new face over the old. "Not here."

"But where is Camelot?"

"I don't know. But where ever it may be, I am at last rid of Merlin and his pawn Aurthur." She turned away, tattered clothes whisked along with the wind. "Come my son."

The armies of her call disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. In seconds a new clothing covered Morgan's body. Her magic was exhausted for the day. Another time she assured herself. Another time and another place would her conquest be realized. With no foe remaining that could stand in her way.

Another phase of existence, that's where Merlin brought Camelot. A hazing pocket place outside normal reality. There the old man healed his wounds knowing his time on Earth was short. He walked to the body of the fallen king.

"Oh, my poor boy..." he knelled down and took Aurthur in his arms. "My boy...my king."

He weeped for the man. So great a man whose heart knew only virtue and ruled with a righteous hand. Merlin had watched over him since the king's youth. Watching, praying, doing what was necessary to make him the man he was. What he is.

A light appeared behind them but he didn't care to pay mind. Eyes closed with tears pouring freely from them.

"Never easy is it? To lose such people as him?" she placed an easy hand on his shoulder. "It never is easy to lose any of them."

He stayed quiet for the longest moment before asking: "Why are thou here?"

"He never leaves anyone, especially when they are hurting." She watched as the tears fell onto the deceased man.

"Why has thou arrived now when all is lost?" He turned to gaze at her dark complexioned face. A larger woman whose expression was filled with a comforting glow.

"I'm sorry for what has happened, but I warned you of this. You became too eager at building this kingdom of virtue. In a world of darkness, it was a flame the enemy had to extinguish."

Merlin laid the king down. "Than all is for not. This fight for good no longer matters."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say that."

"What is the point of this weary battle?" he fell to the floor defeated. "Even when thous protectors are finally ready, many hard trials await thee in an eternal war."

"A war worth the cost for their sake, Merlin. He will not abandon them."

"Hmm..." Merlin looked at the floor and King Aurthur. It saddened him greatly and was certain his heart would never recover. The man was just as any son to him as any blood ties could be.

He stood and remained silent in this thoughts.

"I will never understand Him."

"Nor will I, but that makes Him all the more wondrous to us."

The old man walked away with a smirked on his face. She was right of course. No one could understand the plan at hand, but the journey there never promised an easy road.

"Merlin?" she asked softly. "You need not to return back to the world. You have done enough already."

Merlin stopped.

"Nay," he sighted. "There are still many tasks at hand for thee to finish. With the sword safely beyond her reach the demon wont rest until she has the philosopher's stone."

He turned to her with a smile. "And thou can wait a while longer Alli. At least until meeting your guardians....your protectors of humanity."

Merlin faded out of the hazed world to the normal realm to finish his remaining tasks. Alli returned the smile as she felt the old man's spirit heal. When she looked at the fallen king and his men, she took it upon herself to give them the proper burial suited for a king of greatness. Like David many times before him, King Aurthur would go down in history as one of the great kings of virtue.

The End

-Hail King Aurthur! Long live the king! Hail King Aurthur!-